"Before we begin," the middle-aged officer in armor said, "… you'll place your hands on this orb and speak three obvious lies."
"Okay…" Nico nodded, "But why?"
"To verify its synchronization with your mana frequency," the man in red robes replied flatly as his wolf-like ears twitched while his cold gaze stayed locked on Nico.
And that stare was… a lot.
But once the initial shock wore off, Nico's mind immediately latched onto something far more important.
[There are cat girls in this world!]
But still, Nico kept his face neutral.
[System, you're up.]
-Ding!
{Spoofing Module initialized… Online}
With a small, mischievous smile, he looked the officer straight in the eyes and spoke his first obvious lie.
"I've got a micro-penis."
And the orb glowed green.
The collective jaws of every single person in the room damn near fell to the floor.
The officer looked at Nico with stunned, wide eyes.
Even the wolf-eared man's gaze shifted from scrutiny to straight-up pity.
While Nico was one step away from bursting into tears as he screamed –
[SYSTEM!?!]
-Ding!
{Recalibrating Module Parameters… Spoofing Module Temporarily Offline.}
Just as Nico looked like he might actually cry, the officer in front of him spoke after a cough.
*Cough* "It's okay, son," He said awkwardly, "There… is more to life… than-"
"It's 18 Inches!" Nico shouted at his dignity as it walked away.
And the orb flashed a bright red.
"16!"
The orb glowed red.
"14!"
Red again.
"12!"
Still red.
And with each attempt, he saw his dignity walking farther, while the pity the two men held in their gaze grew deeper and more sincere.
Just as Nico was about to genuinely burst into tears –
-Ding!
[Recalibration Complete. Dynamic Spoofing Online.
Sorry, Host.}
"10," Nico said through gritted teeth as he glared at the orb.
And this time the orb turned green.
Nico slowly looked up at the two men and spoke with utmost sincerity, "Gentlemen, this thing is broken… It's actually 18."
The orb immediately flashed red.
Both men stared at the young man in front of them with conflicted gazes, clearly unsure whether the orb was malfunctioning… or whether the number was ten.
Or 18, actually.
Or neither.
None of the men spoke for what seemed to Nico like hours before the wolf-eared man finally spoke with an awkward cough, "The… orb seems to be malfunctioning. I'll bring another."
With that, he took the orb and almost fled from the room.
And after what had been the longest 15 minutes of Nico's life, the man returned with a new orb and placed it on the table before standing beside the officer.
"Alright, son… You know what to do." The officer said as he ran a hand down his face.
"Yeah…" Nico nodded before taking a deep breath, "I got three heads… three noses… and 4 eyes."
This time, the orb correctly pulsed red with each lie.
And the three men collectively took a sigh of relief.
"Now, give us a brief introduction," the officer said, leaning forward while the glint in the wolf-eared man's eyes returned.
With another deep breath, Nico laid out the script he'd been practicing for just this moment.
"I'm Nico. My elder sister and I were raised by our master. We lived with him deep in that forest inside an underground home. My master was a Mage and Nom-Nom… the Greater Dragon was his Familiar. Since our home was underground, we siblings were protected against each year's Night of the Red Moon… While our Master and Nom-Nom fought outside."
Throughout it all, the orb glowed a bright green.
"Where exactly was your home?" the officer asked.
"Somewhere North of here…" Nico replied, watching the orb remain green.
"Elaborate." The wolf-eared man spoke.
Sighing, Nico said, "When our Master passed, he made me Nom-Nom's new Master. And after his funeral, we set out on our journey as per his wishes. But we had no direction, so we picked one at random and began walking. And after a few days of walking and slaying Magic Beasts and Monsters that attacked us… We finally walked out of the forest… and you know the rest."
"I see," the officer nodded, his gaze softening slightly as the orb glowed green, "And I'm sorry for your loss… I know how hard it is to lose the ones who raised you… especially in times like these."
"Don't be…" Nico replied with a scoff, "My master wasn't a good person… He didn't raise me out of the kindness of his heart. He raised me to be the ultimate weapon against the Night of the Red Moon. My sister too… But when I began showing positive signs…"
Nico pretended to shudder, keeping note that the orb was still glowing green as he continued, "He became a monster… The hell he put me through… the potions me made me drink… He wanted an Infinite Warrior. Someone who would never run out of mana and keep fighting as long as he needed to."
The gazes of both men softened as Nico spoke. And given the Orb stayed green, they firmly believed his supposed 'origin story'.
The officer sighed before speaking softly, "I'm sorry, son… But can you go into a bit more detail?"
Nico let out a tired sigh, pretending to dig through a painful past he wished he could forget.
"Like I said… My master wanted someone who'd take on the Night of the Red Moon by himself. And he picked me… raising me from infancy. As we all know, there are three ways to meditate and cultivate yourself. First, you try to push past your mana capacity by actively shoving more mana in your core than it can handle. Second is by slowly circulating your mana throughout your body… and actively trying to infuse the mana into it, and getting physically stronger. And the third, and the most painful and dangerous one… to actively empty your capacity and push your core to recover mana faster and faster. Did I miss anything?"
Seeing the men shake their heads, Nico continued, "He focused on the third… He wanted someone who'd recover mana faster than he could spend it. He'd make me drink potions that sap all my mana away… forcing me and my core to the brink. And we all know what it's like having little to no mana in your core… and what happens when it reaches absolute zero."
The two men's eyes widened by the time Nico finished, even the wolf-eared man who once looked at Nico with cold eyes felt his voice shake as he asked, "H-How are you still alive?"
"Through sheer grit," Nico replied as he flicked his gaze down, "I mean I had to… otherwise he planned to force my sister into his chamber… hoping to produce a child that might succeed… And now, after 15 years of focusing only on mana recovery… I'm at a point where I truly recover my mana faster than I could spend it."
The two men looked at Nico in stunned silence.
Watching their gazes fill with pity, Nico said with a scoff, "Oh, don't look at me like that. I didn't survive hell every single day for coddles and pitiful gazes. I lived through it for one thing and one thing only… and that's freedom. For Nom-Nom, my sister, and… myself. So, when he suddenly clutched his chest and fell to the ground… I didn't call for help. I just watched… until life finally left his eyes."
Nico let out another scoff as he continued his lie, "But the old bastard didn't forget to torment me even until his final breath… He made me Nom-Nom's master. And told to me live a life full of happiness and freedom… and now each time I laugh… I see his fucking face."
The two men had long been stunned to silence as they stared at the young man in front of them. None of them could've predicted that their night would take a turn this way.
Both men processed the implications of having to live fifteen years of their life, forced to drink potions that sap mana away and force their cores to recover faster than the drain rate.
It was common knowledge; the person dies the moment their mana capacity reaches absolute zero.
So hardly anybody cultivated their mana recovery, letting their natural progression through their Tiers shape it.
And yet the young man before them had been forced to put his life on the line every single day for the past fifteen years, all to keep his sister safe.
The twist in Nico's heart grew as he watched the men's softening expressions while he lied through his teeth.
[These are good people…] Nico sighed [But what choice do I have?]
-Ding!
{There's always a choice. Choose what you will, Host, but don't take your gaze away from what comes after. And don't try to justify it.]
[But I…]
-Ding!
{The path you've taken so far mirrors what my previous Host would've. He was the greatest liar in all of history. And soon, you will not be far behind.}
[Just this once...]